Garlic has been used for food for a long time for the purpose of nutrition, medical use, etc. However, the range of its utilization for food has been limited narrowly because of its strong odor.
Various attempts have been made to remove the odor peculiar to garlic.
Examples of the attempts are as follows:
(1) Removing garlic odor constituents by treatment using enzymes or agents, which involves (a) treatment using a fermentation product (see Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 2,894/1960, 14,392/1963 and 27,308/1967); (b) treatment using agents such as pyroligneous acid (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 19,936/1975); (c) an aqueous solution of acetic acid (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 130,455/1978); (d) phytic acid and silicic acid sol (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 29,265/1982); and (e) a menthol-containing solution (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 13,964/1989), etc.
(2) forcibly removing garlic odor constituents by treating garlic water extract with resins, active carbon or steam (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 210,864/1984 and 100,259/1987), extraction with alcohol and the like, etc.
(3) Deodorizing garlic by inactivating allinase, an enzyme involved in the formation of garlic odor, by heat inactivating the enzyme with (a) a hot blast (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 77,560/1975), (b) steam-cooking (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 198,065/1982), (c) boiling (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 115,947/1976 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 12,658/1966), (d) treatment using oil at high temperature (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 28,658/1973), (e) baking (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 265,862/1989), (f) electromagnetic wave heating (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 18,568/1973, 48,862/1974 and 164,762/1981), etc.
Even by these various methods, however, it is very difficult to remove the odor of garlic completely without degenerating the constituents of garlic. Accordingly, the addition of deodorized garlic to health foods without generating the, constituents of garlic has not been successful.
Jelly foods such as jam and marmalade are produced by adding 50-80% saccharide to raw materials ( strawberry, apple, etc. ), boiling the material down and adding a gelling agent, a sour agent or the like for finishing. However, these foods contain and are not preferable compared to modern health foods.
Saccharide is digested and absorbed in the body to convert into heat and kinetic energy. Vitamin B.sub.1 is thought to be indispensable for this conversion. Therefore, the addition of garlic containing vitamin B.sub.1 is not only considered to be nutritionally preferable for these foods but also is considered to make these foods desirable as health foods owing to the healthy action of garlic constituents.
Jam, marmalade or the like is a preferred food as it maintains the relatively pure taste of its raw material. It is difficult to completely remove the odor of garlic although the addition of garlic to various health foods had been studied. However, an attempt to add garlic to foods such as jam, marmalade, etc. has not been studied at all.